Union Signals Softer Stance On Merit Pay

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Published: May 4, 2001

New York City's teachers union, which has long opposed the concept of merit pay, has sought to end a negotiating deadlock by signaling that it may accept a version of incentive pay, but one far different from that proposed by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

The union, the United Federation of Teachers, indicated over the last week that it would seriously consider a plan that awards all of a school's teachers and other staff members merit pay, perhaps as a one-time bonus, when the school's students show overall improvement on various measures, including standardized tests.

In contrast, Mr. Giuliani wants the union, which represents 80,000 public school teachers, to accept individualized merit pay, in which some teachers in a school would receive bonuses, while others would not, depending on how their students perform.

Mayor Giuliani and many other political leaders have championed individualized merit pay as a tool to overhaul failing schools by rewarding those teachers whose students show improved performance. They argue that the current pay system, which gives teachers annual across-the-board wage increases, fails to reward outstanding instructors or encourage others to improve.

Education experts said the union's signal that it might accept some form of performance-based pay, after months of denouncing Mr. Giuliani's merit pay plan, could end the negotiating stalemate of months and serve as the basis of a deal. This week, during a delicate time in the contract talks, the union's newspaper published a full page about schoolwide incentive pay, generally praising the idea and, in particular, a pilot schoolwide incentive pay program that the union has accepted for two school districts in Brooklyn.

If the union and Mr. Giuliani agree on an incentive pay plan, New York City, with the nation's largest school system, could quickly become a model for the country, placing pressure on teachers unions nationwide to adopt similar plans.

''When the big systems do it, it's a big deal,'' said Allan Odden, an expert on merit pay who is a professor of education policy at the University of Wisconsin. ''If New York City did it, it would get the eyes of the country focused on performance-based pay.''

By indicating that it would consider a system of schoolwide incentive pay, the union has made a significant step toward Mr. Giuliani, labor experts said.

But officials with the union said they would accept an incentive pay plan only if it was part of a contract that raised teacher pay across the board so that it was competitive with suburban levels.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, said in recent weeks that the pilot program in the two Brooklyn districts could serve as a model for a citywide teachers contract. Under that plan, in place in East New York-Cypress Hills and Ocean Hill-Brownsville, the New York City Partnership has helped finance bonuses of up to $2,000 for all the teachers of a school that shows improvement. Forty-seven schools take part in this program, which is known as Breakthrough for Learning.

Diana Fortuna, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a business-backed watchdog group, said the union's movement on merit pay could create the momentum for a deal. But she said that Mr. Giuliani might hesitate because the raises of 15 percent to 20 percent that the union is seeking to catch up with the suburbs could cost the city $750 million to $1 billion a year. Salaries for New York City schoolteachers range from $31,910 to $70,000.

City Hall and union officials declined yesterday to discuss details of the negotiations. The New York State Public Employment Relations Board has ruled that the two sides are at an impasse and has appointed a mediator. The city and union are scheduled to meet four times with the mediator this month.

The United Federation of Teachers has telegraphed its new merit pay stance in several ways. This week, the parent union, the American Federation of Teachers, began circulating a new resolution on teacher compensation adopted by a committee headed by Ms. Weingarten. The resolution opens the door to schoolwide incentive pay, saying that compensation with schoolwide rewards might be considered and should be based on multiple measures, like standardized test scores, dropout rates, attendance rates and classroom assessments.

And this week's edition of the union newspaper, which Ms. Weingarten watches over closely, praised the idea, saying, ''As a supplement to competitive base pay, group and schoolwide incentives have the potential to encourage teamwork and have the potential to foster academic improvement.''

In the past, Ms. Weingarten repeatedly criticized merit pay, suggesting that the only type she would accept should be based on a teacher's achieving higher skills, like advanced certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. She has repeatedly denounced Mr. Giuliani's call for individualized merit pay, saying it would foster envy and discourage teachers from helping each other.

Deputy Mayor Anthony Coles said yesterday that individualized merit pay would be more effective than schoolwide merit pay in improving student performance.

''There are several problems with merit pay on a schoolwide basis,'' he said. ''Among them are school-based merit pay can discourage good teachers from going to teach at bad schools because they may miss out at an opportunity to earn a merit bonus. Schoolwide merit pay protects bad teachers in good schools from being held accountable. There's no reason you should have bad teachers in good schools or bad schools.''

In recent weeks, Mr. Giuliani has hailed provisions in the new contract with District Council 37, the largest municipal union, which allow the city to create individualized merit pay programs without the union's approval.

Ms. Weingarten said that approach would be a major mistake for teachers. ''Teachers have to have a stake in any incentive pay program,'' she said. ''You have to give people a voice in it. That's what causes the cultural shift people are seeking.''